Water Collection Tray and Cabinet

ABSTRACT

A sink cabinet system that includes a water collection tray disposed over a sink cabinet&#39;s floor that collects water from m joints, hoses and fixtures located above and inside the cabinet. In one embodiment, a single large collection tray is used that includes a full extending bottom panel, two raised sidewalls, a rear wall, and a front wall. Formed on each sidewall is a lateral extending flange that either abuts against the inside surface of the side panels or extends into an optional horizontal slots formed on the cabinet&#39;s side and rear panels. Mounted over the rear wall is a detachable drip shield with a diagonally aligned top flange. Also, formed on the floor of the tray is a elevated platform upon which an electric moisture detector may be placed. In a second embodiment, the large single tray is replaced by two half trays connected together by a detachable drip plate.

This utility patent application is based upon and claims the filing datebenefit of U.S. provisional patent application (Application No.61/590/453) filed on Jan. 25, 2012.

COPYRIGHT NOTICE

Notice is hereby given that the following patent document containsoriginal material which is subject to copyright protection. Thecopyright owner has no objection to the facsimile or digital downloadreproduction of all or part of the patent document, but otherwisereserves all copyrights whatsoever.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

1. Field of the Invention

This invention pertains to sink cabinets with collection trays thatcollect water leaking from water pipes, fixtures, hot water tanks,valves and hoses located inside the sink cabinet.

2. Description of the Related Art

Many homeowners and landlords are forced to replace or repair sinkcabinets damaged by undetected leaks from water pipes, fixtures, valvesand hoses inside the sink cabinet. Unfortunately, some leaks drip slowlyand go undetected for several days or weeks causing substantial damageto the sink cabinet and the surrounding walls and floors. In mostinstances, the leaks caused by loose or improperly aligned plumbingjoints, fixtures or water tanks or cracked hoses and tubes located abovethe door opening. In some instances, the water drips vertically andforms a pool on the cabinet floor and can be easily located but lookupward. In other instances, the water will drip onto a lower pipe ortube that carries it away a form a pool at a remote location.Unfortuately, the remote location may be located along the back panel ofthe cabinet and can to undedected for several days. Once the remote poolis detected, tracing the drip back to the original leak can bedifficult.

Many homeowners and landlords will place a collection bin, such as apan, a pitcher or a small bucket, on the floor of the cabinet directlyunder the source of the leak to temporarily collect the water andprevent further damage. Unfortunately, the storage space under a cabinetis usually limited by a drain trap, a garbage disposal, a dishwasherdrain hose, by hot and cold water hoses, and by dish cleaning suppliesthat can prevent proper placement of a collection bin directly under theleak.

What is needed is cabinet with a low profile, water collection tray thatfully covers the floor of a sink cabinet. What is also needed is a watercollection tray that abuts tightly against or engages the side panelsand the back panel of the cabinet so that water that any drips alongside panels and back panel are automatically deposited in the collectiontray and not on the floor of the cabinet.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

The above stated need is met by a sink cabinet water collection traysystem that includes a sink cabinet with a collection tray positionedover the floor of the cabinet that collects water leaking from variousjoints, hoses, and tanks located inside the cabinet. The watercollection tray is designed to fit over and completely cover the entirefloor of the cabinet. Gaps between the tray and the side panels and backpanels are covered so that water may not drip through.

The water collection tray includes a bottom panel, two raised sidewalls,a raised continuous rear wall, and a raised front wall. Formed on eachsidewall is a lateral extending flange that either abuts against theinside surfaces of the cabinet's two side panels or extends into ahorizontal slot formed on the cabinet's side panel. Mounted over therear wall of the collection tray is an optional drip shield with aninward directed, diagonally top flange that directs water that dripsonto the cabinet's back wall into the collection tray. Also, optionalcaulking may be used between the side panels and the flanges and betweenthe back panel and the drip shield to create a water-proof sealtherebetween.

Sink cabinets are square or rectangular-shaped boxes with front and topopenings. The cabinets have parallel flat side panels, and a flat backpanel, and a flat planar floor. The side panels that are usuallyperpendicularly aligned with the back panel and floor.

There are two types of sink cabinets—a sink cabinet with an unobstructedfront opening and cabinet with a front opening divided by a verticalcenter support. In one embodiment the invention comprises a large singletray configured to cover the entire floor of a cabinet. The single trayextends fore to aft and transversely across the entire cabinet floor.The tray has two side panels that extend upward and include an upper,outward extending flange surface that either abuts the cabinet's sidepanels or extends into a lower horizontal slot formed on each sidepanels. In one embodiment, the tray may includes a vertical rear panelwhich attaches to a separately attached drip shield or it may includeintegrally formed flange surface that can act as a drip shield. In oneembodiment, the flange surface abuts the cabinet's back panel or extendsinto a lower horizontal slot formed on the back panel. By including aflange surfaces, water that drips against the cabinet's side or backpanels, is automatically collected into the tray. Optional caulking byme applied to prevent leakage and to provide a finished appearance.

In another embodiment, the water collection tray is made up of two smallwater collection half trays that when aligned over the floor of thecabinet, fully cover and protect the floor. Each half tray includes avertical interior sidewall that is longitudinally aligned with theinterior sidewall on the opposite half ray. The opposite sidewalls mayinclude a flange surfaced that abut the cabinet's side panel or ahorizontal slot. Each half tray may have a vertical rear panel with orwithout a flange surface. During assembly, the two flat interiorsidewalls are aligned in parallel configuration and held together withan optional elongated cap that covers the gap formed between the twotrays to prevent drips of water from seeping into the gap and collectingon the cabinet floor.

During assembly, the large and half trays can be easily inserted andremoved from the cabinet by sliding it directly inward and outwardthrough the front opening. Depending on the type of hinges used on thedoors, the doors may have to be detached from the cabinet to move thetray inward and outward through the front opening.

Also formed on the bottom panel of the full length tray and the two halftrays is an optional, raised mounting area upon which an electricmoisture detector may be placed A water sensor attached to the moisturedetector is positioned on the bottom panel of the tray. When water isdetected in the bottom panel, an audio alarm is generator informing thetenant or the owner that water has been detected in the bottom panel.The single tray or two half trays may be distributed with a batteryoperated moisture alarm that is placed on each raised mounting area oneach tray.

In one embodiment, a single large collection tray and the two smallcollection half trays are sold and distributed as separate items to beused with a standard 30, 36, 42, or 48 inch sink cabinet with flatcontinuous side and rear panels. In another embodiment, the trays aresold and distributed with a 30, 36, 42 or 48 inch modified cabinet withhorizontal slots formed on the side and rear panels that receive theflange surfaces on the side and rear surfaces of the trays.

DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is an exploded, front perspective view of a sink cabinet systemshowing the placement of the large single water collection tray or twosmall water collection trays in a sink cabinet.

FIG. 2 is a front perspective of the large water collection tray with adetachable drip shield raised above the tray's rear wall.

FIG. 3 is a top plan view of the large water collection tray shown inFIG. 2 with the drip shield removed.

FIG. 4 is a side elevation view of the large water collection tray shownin FIG. 3

FIG. 5 is a side elevation view of the large water collection traypositioned inside a cabinet and showing how the drip shield whenattached to the rear wall and abutted against the cabinet's back wall.

FIG. 6 is a top plan view of the drip shield.

FIG. 7 is a front elevation view of the drip shield.

FIG. 8 is a side elevation view of the drip shield.

FIG. 9 is a top plan view the two water collection half trays.

FIG. 10 is a front elevational view of the two half trays with theelongated cap detached and shown in a raised position above the twotray's inside sidewalls.

FIG. 11 is a side elevation view of a half and showing how the dripshield is abutted against the cabinet's back wall.

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT(S)

Referring to the accompanying FIGS. 1-11, there is shown a sink cabinetsystem that includes a sink cabinet with a water collection tray(denoted as 20 or 60) disposed over the cabinet's floor 12 designed tocollect water from leaks that can occur at any location under thecabinet 6. In a first embodiment, the water collection tray 20 includesa horizontal bottom panel 22 that fully covers the cabinet's floor 12.The tray 20 includes two raised sidewalls 24, 26, a raised rear wall 30,and a raised front wall 34. In the embodiment shown in the Figs, thetray 20 is rectangular with parallel sidewalls 24, 26 and parallel rearand front walls 30, 34. It should be understood, however, the tray 20may be square or a polygon with sidewalls 24, 26 and with rear and frontwalls 32, 34 may not be parallel.

Formed on each sidewall 24, 26, is a lateral extending flange 25, 27,respectively, that either abuts the inside surface of the cabinet's sidepanels 8, 10, respectively, or extends into a horizontal slot 9, 11,formed on the side panels 8, 10, respectively. In the first embodiment,the rear wall 30 is a flat vertical surface. Mounted over the rear wall30 is an optional detachable drip shield 40 with a diagonally alignedtop flange 42.

The tray 20 has a depth (i.e. distance from front to rear) slightly lessthan the depth of the cabinet 6 thereby forming a narrow gap between thetray's rear wall 30 and the cabinet's back panel 7 that allows the topflange 42 on a drip shield 40 attached to the rear wall 30 with adiagonally and abutted to the back panel 7 as shown in FIG. 5. Optionalcaulking 48 may be used between the side panels 8, 10 and the flanges25, 27, respectively, and between the back panel 7 and the drip shield'stop flange 42 to create a water-proof seal therebetween.

In a first embodiment, the water collect tray 20 is a single, large traydesigned to cover the entire floor 12 of a cabinet 6. The tray 20 mustbe used with a cabinet 6 that has a single, wide front opening 13 andwithout a center vertical support member so that the tray 20 can beeasily inserted or removed from the cabinet 6 through the front opening13.

The tray 20 is designed to cover the entire bottom panel of a standardcabinet (15-48 inches in length) and 24 inches wide. The sidewalls 24,26 and rear walls 30 are approximately ¾ inches in height and theflanges 25, 27, on each sidewall 24, 26, respectively, are approximately½ inch wide. The front wall 34 is approximately ½ inches in height. Inone embodiment, the length of the tray 20 is approximately ½ inch longerso that the outer edges of the flanges 25, 27 may slide into horizontalslots 9, 11 formed on the side panels 8,10, respectively.

As stated above, the depth of the tray 20 must be approximately 1 to 1-½inches less than the depth of the cabinet 6 so that the drip shield 40may be diagonally aligned on the rear wall 30 and abutted with the backpanel 7. The overall length of the drip shield 40 is approximately thesame as the overall length of the rear wall 30. of the single tray 20.The tray 20 also includes a raised platform area 50 for the moisturealarm 120. The platform area 50 measures approximately 3×3 inches and iselevated approximately ⅛ to ¼ inches above the floor 22.

In a second embodiment, shown in FIGS. 1 and 9-11, the water collectiontray (denoted generally as 60) is made up of two small water collecthalf trays 62, 62′ that are placed side-by side over the floor 12 of thecabinet 6. Each half tray 62, 62′ includes a flat interior sidewall 64,64′ that enables them to be joined and held together with an elongatedcap 75 that covers the gap formed between the two trays 62, 62′ andprevents drips from seeping into the gap and collecting on the floor 12.Attached to the rear walls 66, 66′of the two small trays 62, 62′, is anelongated drip shield 80, 80′, respectively. Each tray 62, 62′ may alsoinclude a raised moisture mounting area 102, 102′, respectively, uponwhich an electric moisture detector 120 may be placed.

In the second embodiment, the depths (front to rear dimensions) of thetwo smaller trays 62, 62′ are equal and approximately ½ the depth of thecabinet 6. The sidewalls 66, 66′ and rear walls 69, 69′ on each halftray 62, 62′ are approximately ¾ inches in height and the flanges 67,67′ on each outside sidewall 66, 66′ are approximately ½ inch wide. Thefront wall 63, 63′ is approximately ½ inches in height. The overalllength of the two half trays 62, 62′ is sufficient so that outer edgesof the two flanges formed on the outside sidewalls 67, 67′ may slideinto horizontal slots 9, 11 formed on the cabinet's side panels 8, 10.In the embodiment shown, two drip plates 80, 80′ are used on the twohalf trays 62, 62′. It should be understood that the two drip plates 80,80′ may be placed with one single elongated drip plate similar to dripshield 40. The overall length of the two drip plates 80, 80′ areapproximately the same as the overall length of the two trays 62, 62′.The widths of the two trays 62, 62′ must be approximately 1 to 1-½inches less than the width of the cabinet so that the drip plates 80,80′ may be diagonally aligned on the rear wall and abutted against therear panel 7. The raised areas 102, 102′ for the moisture alarm detector120 measure approximately 3×3 inches and is elevated approximately⅛ to ¼inches above the floor of an inch.

The joining cap 75 is an inverted U-shaped structure and is sufficientin width to snap fit over the inside surfaces of the two insidesidewalls 64, 64′. The length of the joining cap 75 is approximatelyequal to the depth of the two smaller trays 62, 62′.

The above trays 20 and 60 are can be used with a standard sink cabinetthat has continuous flat side panels and rear panels. The flangessurfaces and the drip shield abuts the cabinet's side panels and rearpanels. In other embodiment, the trays 20 and 60 are used with amodified sink cabinet that includes lower horizontal slots formed on theside panels and rear panels. The slots are aligned and configured on theside panels and rear panels to receive the flange surfaces on the trayssidewalls and rear wall (or the drip shield).

Distributed with or separately with each tray or as a kit made up of acabinet and one or more trays, is a battery operated moisture alarm 120that is placed on each raised areas 50. 102 on each tray 20 or 62, 62′.

In compliance with the statute, the invention described herein has beendescribed in language more or less specific as to structural features.It should be understood however, that the invention is not limited tothe specific features shown, since the means and construction shown, iscomprised only of the preferred embodiments for putting the inventioninto effect. The invention is therefore claimed in any of its forms ormodifications within the legitimate and valid scope of the amendedclaims, appropriately interpreted in accordance with the doctrine ofequivalents.

I claim:
 1. A sink cabinet system that is less susceptible to damage tothe cabinet's side panels, back panel, a floor caused by leaks from awater source located inside the sink cabinet, the system comprising; a.a water collection tray with two opposite raised sidewalls, a raisedback wall, a raised front panel and a bottom surface, said tray beingconfigured in size and shape to cover the floor and extend between theside panels of a sink cabinet; and, b. means for directing water flowingalong the side panels or back panel into the water collection tray. 2.The sink cabinet system, as recited in claim 1, further including araised platform formed the bottom surface configured to hold a moisturesensor in an elevated position on the tray.
 3. The sink cabinet system,as recited in claim 1, wherein the means for directing water is a dripshield with an inward directed, diagonally aligned flange surface thatextends laterally and abuts the cabinet's side panel or rear panel. 4.The sink cabinet system, as recited in claim 1, further including alaterally extending flange surface formed on both the side panels or therear panel.
 5. The sink cabinet system, as recited in claim 4, furtherincluding a horizontal slot formed on the side panel or rear panelconfigured to receive the flange surface on the side panel or rearpanel.
 5. The sink cabinet system, as recited in claim 1, wherein thewater collection tray is made of two half trays aligned over the bottomsurface of the cabinet.
 6. The sink cabinet system, as recited in claim5, further including a joining cap 75 that holds the two half traystogether over the bottom surface of a cabinet.
 7. The sink cabinetsystem, as recited in claim 6, wherein the means for directing water isa drip shield with an inward directed, diagonally aligned flange surfacethat extends laterally and abuts the cabinet's side panel or rear panel.8. The sink cabinet system, as recited in claim 5, further including alaterally extending flange surface formed on both the side panels or therear panel.
 9. The sink cabinet system, as recited in claim 8, furtherincluding a horizontal slot formed on the side panel or rear panelconfigured to receive the flange surface on the side panel or rearpanel.
 10. An apparatus for collecting water that drips onto the floorof a cabinet from a water source located inside the cabinet, comprising:a. a water collection tray configured to cover the floor of the cabinet,the tray includes a two opposite raised sidewalls, a raised back wall, araised front panel and a bottom surface, the raised sidewall eachincluding an outward extending flange surface that abuts side panelslocated on the cabinet; b. a drip shield attached to the back wall ofthe tray, the drip plate includes a inward directed, diagonally alignedflange surface that extends into the water tray and extends laterally toabuts a rear panel on the cabinet.
 11. The apparatus as recited in claim10, wherein the water collection tray is made of two half trays alignedover the bottom surface of the cabinet.
 12. The apparatus as recited inclaim 11, further including a joining cap that connects the two halftrays together.
 13. The apparatus as recited in claim 11, furtherincluding drip plates attached to each said half tray that extendslaterally to abut a rear panel on the cabinet.
 14. The apparatus asrecited in claim 12, further including drip plates attached to each saidhalf tray that extends laterally to abut a rear panel on the cabinet.